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- During the Song, two schools evolved. There was the Northern school of landscape painting, which was characterized by dramatic boldness, using heavy sharp strokes and contrasting light and dark shades. The Southern school stressed serenity, delicacy and harmony. The strong lyrical rhythm of the painting of this period was almost like a piece of music, which invited the viewer to roam through the misty landscape and experience it with the artist. The styles and forms of Song landscape painting multiplied, and colour inside outlines gave way to ink-wash painting. Washes were applied without drawing the ink outlines, which shows more life and vividness, for nature itself is not contained by an outline. Many art historians feel that painting of the Song period reached a level of perfection that was not to be surpassed in the succeeding dynasties. In later periods, the stylistic and theoretical devices were constantly elaborated and enriched, but when examined closely, the paintings show that the fundamental attitude of the Song remained unaltered.
The magnificent developments of Song paintings owes much to imperial patronage, particularly to the establishment of the Academy of Painting, which laid the essential foundation for later Academician or Court traditions in Chinese painting. Following the takeover of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), this type of imperial patronage diminished. With the imperial family failing to promote art, it fell to scholars and �thoughtful� people to keep the flame alive. Hence, it was not surprising that given that many literati were not employed as officials of the foreign regime for fear of sedition, and many of the literati would not serve the Mongols out of loyalty to the fallen Song dynasty, that many literati devoted their time to artistic pursuits. The scholar-amateur or literati painting tradition would flourish and come to the forefront. It became a real liberation from the traditional Court style, and from that time onward it became the most exciting and innovative painting tradition In China. It was Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) and some of his colleagues who revitalized the literati tradition, but it was the Four Great Yuan Masters, Huang Gongwang (1269-1354), Wu Zhen (1280-1354), Ni Zan (1301-1374) and Wang Meng (c. 1309-1385), who brought the school of literati painting to its full fruition during the second half of the Yuan dynasty.
After the lean years of the Yuan dynasty, the new rulers of the Ming dynasty (1368- 1644) tried to restore traditional values and institutions, which also meant the re�establishment of the practice of summoning painters to serve at court. These court painters came to be known as the Zhe School. They sought inspiration from the classic landscape painters of the Southern Song period with their misty distances and angular brushstrokes. Zhe painters were considered professionals who lived for and by their paintings and who were obliged to produce paintings in accordance with the whims of the court. In contrast to the Zhe School were the literati painters of the Wu School, who were anti-establishment and created paintings for their own intellectual satisfaction. Wu painters constructed an ideal art world of their own and carried on the romantic literati tradition of the Yuan masters. In general, the Zhe School was formal in appearance, rich in content, ambitious in composition and took much time for their completion. The Wu School, was more simplified and free, and closer to the free spirit of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. They emphasized the expression of poetic taste rather than the show of technical competency.
In the sixteenth century a renowned painter, Dong Qichang (1555-1636), attempted to reclassify all artists into the Northern and Southern schools. In general, he praised the literati traditions and criticized the academicians. The professional painters were considered mere artisans and the literati painters true artists. The famous Mustard Seed
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